LINUX NEWS FROM O'REILLY NETWORK
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The Latest from http://www.linuxdevcenter.com and http://ONLamp.com
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Good day everyone. You're reading the Linux Newsletter, a weekly
opportunity for the ONLamp.com editor to lure you to the site to read new
articles and weblogs. This is no exception.
First up, KIVILCIM Hindistan (the closest ASCII-centric transliteration of
his name) has been playing with bootable Linux CDs lately. The idea goes
back to the Linux Bootable Business Card and even earlier and has, with
Knoppix and other LiveCDs, reached a pinnacle of utility. In "Feather
Linux: The Swiss Army Knive of LiveCDs," KIVILCIM investigates Feather
Linux as a bootable CD for system administrators and troubleshooters.
It's particularly good for taking backup snapshots of entire partitions,
for example:
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/11/11/featherlinux.html
Why might you want to backup your partitions? To install FreeBSD, of
course! With 5.3 going stable, it's a great time to test the waters on the
other side of the pool. Sure, Unix is Unix is Unix, but there are some
real differences between FreeBSD and Linux. Dru Lavigne's "FreeBSD for
Linux Users" explains what you'll encounter switching between the two:
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2004/11/11/FreeBSD_Basics.html
When you've switched, you'll want some sort of work to do in your new
environment. How about writing a book or at least an article about your
experiences? This newsletter is too short to give all of the advice you
might want, but David Sklar's "Writing Learning PHP 5" explains the
techniques he used and the tools he wrote in the process of producing his
latest book. If you're into automation or curious about the process,
don't miss Sklar's piece:
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/php/2004/11/11/writingphp5.html
If you do decide to write a book, you'll need some free time. Automating
things around your house will help. It's a fun hobby anyway. Gordon
Meyer, author of Smart Home Hacks, provides copius instructions on using
MisterHouse, an open source project to manage home automation. (The
developers like the article so much, they're including it in their
distribution!)
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2004/11/11/smrthome_hks1.html
In this week's weblogs, Jono Bacon compares software (unfavorably) to
television sets:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5902
Derrick Story introduces the new line of adorable Fan Books:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5907
Chuck Toporek likes iPod Socks:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5911
Steve Mallett wants to combat FUD by opening more topics of discussion:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5915
Uche Ogbuji updates from Evolution 1.4 to Evolution 2.0 (with the Mail,
Contacts, Calendars, and Tasks buttons that ate Seattle):
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5919
Robert Kaye reflects on returning to Java after coding in Python for a
while:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5922
Andy Lester has one question for crazy Uncle Bill--WHY?:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5923
David Brickner links to Bookpool's whopping 43% discount on O'Reilly
books:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5928
Giles Turnbull gives you eight minutes to do something:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5926
This week's Open Source Project of the Week is DSPAM, a statistical spam
fighter:
http://osdir.com/Downloads+index-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-753-ttitle-DSPAM.phtml
That's this week. Stay tuned next week for elephants and ants.
Seriously.
Avoiding the menagerie,
chromatic
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Technical Editor
O'Reilly Network
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ONLamp.com and Linux Devcenter Top Five Articles Last Week
1. FreeBSD for Linux Users
BSD and Linux are both Unix workalikes. How different can they be? In
certain cases, very! Though the systems share a family tree, their
differences sometimes stand out. Dru Lavigne explains FreeBSD's runlevels,
startup scripts, kernel configuration, and documentation systems to Linux
users.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/bsd/2004/11/11/FreeBSD_Basics.html
***
2. Feather Linux: The Swiss Army Knife of LiveCDs
Bootable LiveCDs have made the lives of Linux dabblers easier. They're
also good for administrators and people facing system recovery woes. Among
LiveCDs, Feather Linux is a lean and powerful tool. KIVILCIM Hindistan
demonstrates how it can make backing up and restoring partitions easy.
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/11/11/featherlinux.html
***
3. Which Open Source Wiki Works For You?
An old idea--user-writable web pages--has taken off again recently. Wikis
are becoming more popular as tools for communication and collaboration.
There are also several dozen packages to create them. Shlomi Fish compares
features of several popular open source Perl, Python, and PHP Wikis.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2004/11/04/which_wiki.html
***
4. Advanced Linux Installations and Upgrades with Kickstart
Unix is beautifully scriptable. That applies to installations and
upgrades, too. Fedora's Kickstart utility can automate installing entire
labs of computers, installing custom RPMs, and even upgrading old
versions. Ethan McCallum explains advanced Kickstart techniques.
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/11/04/advanced_kickstart.html
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5. Introducing LAMP Tuning Techniques
Having a successful web site can be a mixed blessing. It's nice to reach
more people, but it's painful to run up against hardware limits.
Fortunately, LAMP sites have several tuning options, from tweaking
parameters to replacing components. Adam Pedersen explains.
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2004/02/05/lamp_tuning.html
***
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